


The Politics of Love

by embracethedinosaurs



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Politics, American Politics, Democrat Abby Griffin, Elections, F/M, Jaha is sketchy as always, Reconciliation, Republican Marcus Kane, The Blakes are Kanes in this fic, debates, scandals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-05-21 04:42:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14908535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embracethedinosaurs/pseuds/embracethedinosaurs
Summary: This was supposed to be a simple election; the country was in shambles and Abby had twice the experience of every other candidate. This changed when she was opposed with someone who wouldn't be so simple to defeat.ORThe one where Marcus and Abby are divorced and run in an election against one another.





	1. Trouble begins

**Author's Note:**

> This fic idea has been floating around my brain for awhile but the two weeks wait between episodes (why do that to us twice CW?) finally gave me motivation to actually write it. I hope you enjoy!

It started on a day of no particular significance. After making several phone calls to influential donors, Abby Kane was finally able to get to work on preparing herself for her interview the following day. The problem was that not much had happened in the political sphere in the last couple weeks, meaning the press had to dig into her personal life, which Abby was not at all fond of. 

Abby heard a knock on the door to her office. “Come in,” she called, not bothering to look up from her work. 

“I thought you should see this,” said her campaign manager, Jackson, as he walked into her office.  He handed her a newspaper.  **_Former Secretary of State, Marcus Kane, announces he will be running for president in the upcoming 2028 presidential election_ ** , read the headline. Intrigued, Abby kept going. 

_ As we near the end of the disastrous administration of President Diana Sydney, this upcoming presidential election will prove crucial in shaping the future of our country. Sydney’s campaign promised to be ‘for the workers’ but in reality is considered to be one of the most disingenuous administrations in the history of our nation.  _

_ So much so, that President Sydney is not even attempting to run for office again in this upcoming election, leaving the nation with one very important question, ‘who will be the next president of the United States?’   _

_ Up until this point, the leading candidate for the nomination of the Republican Party has been Charles Pike, a war veteran turned politician who promises strong military prowess, agricultural development and reforming our prison system. However, early this morning, Marcus Kane announced his bid for the presidency, jeopardizing Pike’s surefire nomination.  _

_ Kane was Secretary of State during the administration of President Thelonious Jaha and has a history of advocating for treaties and trade deals between other countries. With the primaries starting in a few months, it is likely the Republican nomination will fall to one of these candidates. If Secretary Kane becomes the Republican nominee, it will definitely be a presidential election the likes of which we have never seen before.  _

_ Leading the Democratic race however, is Senator Abigail Kane, Secretary Kane’s ex-wife. With a whopping 75% in the polls, Sen. Kane is as good as guaranteed the Democratic nomination. Her closest competition is Congressman Dante Wallace with only a mere 18% in the most recent polls.  _

_ If these two become the final two candidates, Lord knows what drama will be inflicted upon us. After their explosive and very public divorce three years ago… _

Abby stopped at this point, she didn’t really care to read about her own divorce. “This is real, right?” she asked Jackson. “You aren’t playing some very elaborate practical joke on me?”

“Yes, it’s real,” replied Jackson. “I’m not that mean.”

“I know you aren’t.” Abby sighed and rested her head on her desk, scattering the various papers and office supplies she had littered about. “Shit, this is the last thing we needed."

“You’ll definitely be asked about this in your interview tomorrow. You should prepare some answers,” suggested Jackson. 

“I’ll do that. Just give me a few minutes, it’s a lot to take in.”

“Of course.” Jackson exited her office and left Abby alone with her thoughts. 

A few minutes later, her daughter rushed into the office panting hard like she had run there which, Abby supposed, was not that unlikely. “I assume you’ve heard,” she said upon seeing her mother’s defeated expression. 

“That your father is running against me, yeah.”

“Then I have some news you're probably not going to like,” informed Clarke nervously. 

“Just spit it out.”

Clarke didn’t miss the bitterness in Abby’s tone and chose her next words carefully. “It’s about Bell. Dad’s taken him on as his campaign manager.”

This changed things. Abby and Marcus’ relationship was already so horrible that running for office against one another wasn’t likely to change anything. However, their kids getting involved complicated things. Clarke had been helping with Abby’s campaign and Abby doubted that she would ever vote for a Republican, even if it was her father. Since Bellamy had clearly chosen Marcus’ side, Abby worried it would drive a rift between the siblings, whose relationship had only recently recovered. 

“What about Octavia?” asked Abby, worried for her youngest daughter. “She’ll be old enough to vote by the election.”

“She hasn’t chosen a side either way, she’s hoping only one of you will win the primaries so she doesn’t have to. She’s worried this election will tear our family apart.” Abby didn’t miss the sorrow in Clarke’s voice as she said this. 

“She might be right,” remarked Abby dejectedly.

* * *

 

“Mom called,” informed Bellamy nervously. He had been trying to work up the courage to tell this to Marcus since the time they got home half an hour ago. The two of them were sitting in the TV room in Marcus’ house as Bellamy was staying with him for a few days so he could see Octavia. However, she was at a sleepover with Raven tonight, which meant Bellamy and Marcus were all alone in the house. “She wants to meet with you.”

“Tell her no,” shot back Marcus. He was incredibly preoccupied with preparing a speech for his first rally and didn’t feel like dealing with his ex-wife. “She’ll just yell at me.”

“Look, either you sit down and talk to her or Clarke and I will schedule a surprise interview for the two of you,” threatened Bellamy. “So either you talk it out in private or on live TV, the choice is yours.”

“Fine, I’ll talk to her,” agreed Marcus reluctantly. “Arrange a meeting, but make it somewhere private. The last thing I need is the press all over this.”

* * *

 

They met in the art gallery Clarke worked at part-time. It was after hours and Clarke had convinced her boss to give her the keys for the night so there had been no problem arranging a meeting. Clarke was perched on a bench while Abby was pacing the length of the room. 

“Where are they?” asked Abby. She was nervous; it had been over a year since she had seen Marcus for a non-work related event. (Where there was usually crowds of people to use as an excuse not to talk to each other.) But now, there would be no buffers, no one to stop them if they physically assaulted one another; not an unlikely scenario if one judged off of their previous encounters. 

“Mom, you need to relax. They’re only a few minutes late,” reassured Clarke

“But Marcus is never late,” contradicted Abby. 

“And you know Bellamy always is,” she shot back.

“I’m sorry, I’m just nervous,” apologized Abby. “Meeting your ex-husband because he is running against you for president is not a normal thing to have to do.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Clarke had no answer for that statement, it was a truly unprecedented situation and for people like her parents, whose entire political careers had been very normal and by the book, it was daunting.

When Bellamy and Marcus arrived, Abby was surprised to see that Thelonious Jaha was with them. Her and Jaha had formed a tentative agreement back when he had been president and Marcus was Secretary of State. After the divorce however, Marcus was no longer there to be the buffer between the two vastly different personalities and their conflicting political views  and since then, Abby and Jaha had become political adversaries, commonly making public statements against one another. 

“What do you want, Jaha?” she asked, wholly ignoring Marcus. 

“I’m not here to talk with you,” he replies. “I’m actually here to speak with Clarke.”

Clarke seemed surprised by this. “Alright,” she agreed with suspicion. Jaha walked outside and Clarke shot a confused glance in the direction of her family before following him out, leaving her parents to glare at each other. 

“Umm, I’ll just go,” said Bellamy after about half a minute of scowling.

He nervously backed out of the room and it was only then that Abby spoke. “What the hell were you thinking?” she asked. She wasn’t yelling, but her voice held just as much anger as there would be if she were.

“I didn’t think you cared about anything I did anymore,” he retorted. 

“I do if it affects me or my children,” snapped Abby. “Which this definitely does.”

“It’s my right to run for president and I want to. I’d surely do a better job than you. ”

“Like hell you would!” she yelled. “And is it even worth it? This will thrust my family into the spotlight. Octavia’s not even finished high school yet, for God’s sake.”

“Something you didn’t seem to care about when you decided to run,” snapped Marcus. 

“Of course I did,” said Abby. “I just knew that at least one of her parents would have a semi-normal life she could retreat into. As much as I dislike you, I’m not so stupid to not acknowledge that you’re going to beat Pike. Then, no matter which party wins, she’ll have one of her parents as the president. That can’t possibly be good for a teenage girl’s mental health.”

“I agree,” replied Marcus. “Which is why you should drop out of the race.” His voice was completely calm. Abby had been in enough arguments with him to know that this was when he was the most dangerous.

“And leave the country in the hands of you?” asked Abby incredulously. “You might be worse than Diana Sydney.”

That was a low blow. Diana Sydney had won the appeal of the lower and middle classes by hating on the elite and delivering promise after promise that she didn’t keep. 

She ran as the Democratic nominee but once elected, had implemented some very right wing laws. There was much unrest and malcontent amongst the people of the United States and after a shady deal with North Korea was unmasked, all hell had broken loose. 

There were riots happening every day and Sydney kept having to implement harsher laws to regain control, such as capital punishment nationwide. The people were desperate for a change, which is why Abby knew with absolute certainty that Marcus was going to be the nominee. Someone like Pike would have normally done really well in the Republican primaries but as Diana Sydney’s strict, right wing administration was coming to a close, the people were desperate for a more liberal approach. 

“And the country with you at the helm would be absolute anarchy. You’re too impulsive, you don’t think before you make decisions,” sneered Marcus. 

“What the hell does that mean?” asked Abby. 

“Oh, nothing. You just seem to have such a disregard for laws, it would be horribly hypocritical of you to enforce them on others when you barely follow them yourself.” 

“That wouldn’t be my job, you know that. And what do you mean I have no respect for the law?” 

“As president, you could give out pardons and I’m willing to bet you would take full advantage of that. It’s fine if they commit crimes, as long as their motives were good, right?”

“That’s not what I think at all,” exclaimed Abby as she was hit with a wave of déjà vu. They had been through this argument over dinner many times before. The only difference was that now the argument had an actual mean edge to it, whereas the other ones had been in fondness and was just for the sake of arguing. 

Marcus had always said that her fire was what had first drawn him to her. How ironic was it that Abby’s fire and determination was the reason they could hardly stand to be in the same room? When they were on the same side, they worked so much better as individuals. Without Marcus’ calm and collective presence, Abby was a time bomb, saying things in anger she often regretted later. In turn,  Marcus became much more emotionally detached from people when Abby wasn’t around. They balanced each other out, like two sides of the same coin; and when one side was removed from the equation, it knocked everything off-kilter and caused pain for those surrounding them. 

That balance was completely gone now, leaving the two of them as opposing forces with the country caught in the middle. However, the worst part was that there was still some love between them, their words wouldn’t hurt nearly as much if there wasn’t. 

“What do you want, Marcus?” asked Abby, fed up. 

“I don’t know. You were the one who called this meeting if I remember correctly. What did you think it would achieve?”

“I had hoped we would be able to remain civil to one another over the course of this election. Clearly, this isn’t possible. I hope you lose to Pike, it would make my life easier,” spat Abby.  

“If he does, he’ll have my vote over you,” replied Marcus coldly. “However, I do have an offer for you.”

“Get on with it then.” 

Marcus let out a small, humorless chuckle that Abby knew he only did when he was nervous. “However this election goes, I think we should promise to keep it fair. We both know things about each other that the media would have a field day with. For the sake of our kids, I think it would be best if they were to remain between us.”

Abby was momentarily stunned, not because of his offer but because it had never even crossed her mind to play dirty and leak his secrets to the press. “Of course,” she replied and shook his hand. It felt weird, they hadn’t shook hands in about twenty years and the gesture felt weirdly apathetic and impersonal for the pair of them and all their shared history.

“Now, where have our kids and Jaha gone to?” asked Abby. She pretended not to notice his slight eyebrow raise when she said ‘our kids’. Whenever she was talking about their children to Marcus, she always said  _ my  _ kids, as if she was renouncing any sort of partnership with him. 

“They’re adults, I’m sure they can find their way home,” replied Marcus in a detached voice. 

They both left the art gallery without another word  and went their separate ways. When she arrived at her car, she was surprised to see Clarke behind the wheel and ready to drive. 

“Let’s go,” she said forcefully. Abby wanted to ask about her meeting with Jaha but she knew Clarke well enough to see that she was holding back tears and decided not to push her in this moment. 

“What happened with dad?” asked Clarke. She was angry, that was plain to see. Clarke was usually very composed, whatever Jaha had said had clearly rattled her. 

“Nothing good,” replied Abby. “We just ended up yelling at each other, I don’t know why I thought meeting face to face would solve anything.”

If she was being honest with herself, Abby knew the reason why she had set up the meeting. It was because this was going to be a difficult and emotionally taxing election for her and she missed him, as much as she tried to deny it. It wasn’t his good political advice, although that would definitely help right now, it was him. 

She didn’t know if she was still in love with him but there was no denying she missed his presence. Even having him as just a friend would be better than having her heart shatter a little more every time she argued with him. 

She knew that he must have rattled her up more than she thought; she wasn’t normally one for such sentimental and romantic thoughts.

“What happened with Jaha?” asked Abby, snapping out of her mind and back into the conversation. 

“Nothing,” snapped Clarke with a tone of voice that made Abby believe it was much more than that. “He just wanted to  _ suggest, _ ” Clarke put lots of emphasis on that word. “that I consider switching sides. But you know me, I’d never work with a Republican.” She forced a smile. 

Abby knew it was true, Clarke had always been very outspoken about her beliefs about that party and Jaha in particular, which had caused more than a few arguments at their house. 

“Are you sure that’s all?” pressed Abby, unconvinced. 

“Definitely.” Clarke’s smile seemed more genuine this time and Abby let it go. 

“Alright then.”

The rest of the drive was spent in silence. Clarke glared at everything while she drove and Abby just stared out the window and replayed her meeting with Marcus in her mind over and over again. 

As they arrived back at Abby’s office, Clarke got a phone call. “I have to take this,” she said. 

“Who is it?” asked Abby, curiously. It was eleven-o'clock at night and she didn’t know who would be calling Clarke at this late hour. 

“No one, just a friend,” replied Clarke, suitably vague. She walked out of the office and didn’t return for several hours, at which point Abby had fallen asleep at her desk.

* * *

 

“Your daughter is stubborn, I’ll give her that,” said Jaha once he was comfortably settled on on of the couches in Marcus’ living room. Marcus had gone home after his meeting with Abby and was enjoying a nice glass of scotch when he had heard a knock at his door. To his surprise, Jaha had been at his door and, to be polite, Marcus had invited him to join him.

“What were you talking to her about?” asked Marcus. 

“I was attempting to persuade her to join your campaign,” replied Jaha. 

Marcus had worked under Jaha for long enough to know what he meant by persuasion. 

His tone of voice turned hostile in an instant. “I swear to God, if you hurt my daughter…”. 

“Relax, Kane. I’m on your side,” said Jaha. “Anything I find on Clarke would affect you as well as Abby.”

“What do you want then?” snapped Marcus. 

“Merely to help get you elected, of course. If Clarke were to join your campaign, your family would be united behind you. It would help in the public eye.” Marcus knew that was true. However, Jaha’s sudden interest in Marcus’s victory was ringing warning bells. 

“Why do you care so much if I win?” questioned Marcus. 

“Can’t I just want be helping out a friend?” replied Jaha. 

Marcus tried to stop himself from rolling his eyes at this. “You don’t have friends, Jaha. You only have allies. So I ask again, why do you want me to win?”

Jaha got up. “I hope that you’ll consider me as an option for your running mate.” He left the room and a minute later Marcus heard the front door close and the sound of Jaha’s car starting. 

So this was Jaha’s endgame, he wanted to be Vice President. It really shouldn’t have been a shock to Marcus. For people like Jaha, it was impossible to let go of power. After the end of his second term in office, he had kept trying to get in the ears of foreign leaders after it had proved impossible with Sydney and now he was trying to tag along on Marcus’ campaign. 

Marcus didn't know who he would choose as his running mate (he didn't trust many people in his party), but he knew it wouldn't be Jaha, he just didn't trust him. It wouldn't surprise Marcus in the slightest to learn that Jaha had made this proposition to every Republican candidate, Jaha just wasn't the sort to let go of power.

This election sure had plenty of forces at play, both known and unknown and Marcus wasn’t sure that the people he loved would come out of it unscathed. 


	2. The First Obstacle to Victory

All things considered, Octavia Kane had a pretty good life. She had friends and family who loved her, a boyfriend who couldn’t be more perfect match, several scholarships to various universities and a fair share of money. However, she did sometimes wish she was someone else. Now was one of those times.

“Hey, Kane!” yelled Murphy from across the gym. “Heard your dad’s a traitor who made deals with our enemy.” Murphy walked towards where Octavia, her best friend Raven, her boyfriend Lincoln and her other friends, Jasper and Monty were doing sit ups. 

“Shut up, Murphy,” growled Octavia. “My dad wouldn’t do that.”

“Oh, you haven’t heard,” said Murphy, abnormally gleeful. He passed her his phone which had an article pulled up. Octavia took one look at the headline -  _ Why Marcus Kane’s exposed dealings with Azgeda prove we were right about him all along?  _ \- before throwing the phone back at Murphy. 

“There’s more to that story than you know.” 

“Then why don’t you enlighten me, princess? Seems like this is something you know about first-hand,” sneered Murphy. Octavia felt a flash of anger course through her at the nickname. Clarke had always been called that but after she graduated two year ago, the “princess” mantle had fallen to Octavia. 

“Why the hell would I talk to you longer than necessary?” shot back Octavia. 

Murphy’s reply was cut short by the timely arrival of Coach Miller. “Is there a problem here?” he asked. 

“Not at all, sir,” replied Murphy. He shot Octavia a glare over his shoulder as he walked back to join Roma, Diggs and Mbege on the other side of the gym. 

At the end of class, Octavia stomped out of class, completely ignoring her friends. She went to the one place in the school where she could truly relax and think: the roof. She had discovered a few months earlier that the lock on the door to the roof was remarkably easy to pick. She had found herself up here a lot in recent weeks and decided to secretly haul up bean bag chairs to make it more comfy. 

Her friends found her a short while later; lying in a heap across several chairs arranged in a line, a half-empty two litre bottle of Coca Cola in her hand and some very sad sounding classical music playing from her iPod at full volume. 

“What’s wrong?” asked Jasper upon seeing her tears. They all forced Octavia to sit up and sat down on the multi coloured bean bag chairs next to Octavia. Lincoln wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him.  

“You know Charles Pike, the guys my dad’s running against?” asked Octavia. Lincoln nodded. “He’s released some footage and it’s not good.”

“What’s the footage of?” asked Jasper. 

Octavia sighed. “During the last year of Jaha’s presidency, dad sent me on a mission to Ice Nation We were on the brink of war and the hatred of Azgeda was so strong that anyone who even dared to suggest that they were anything less than the devil was attacked in the streets.”

“I remember that,” added Lincoln. “I had just moved here from Trigeda and it was a war zone.” 

“Anyways, my dad sent me to negotiate. I was thirteen and I don’t entirely know why. I guess he just figured it would be a lot easier to hide if I were to go. The thing was though, he didn’t clear it with anyone else. Pike released a video of me on the phone with dad telling him that there wasn’t much I could do without Jaha’s approval and asking if he would be able to get it soon. Jaha agreed it was the smart thing to do afterwards but people are calling dad a traitor and stuff. Me as well.” 

“I’m sorry, Octavia.” Lincoln placed a soft kiss on Octavia’s lips.

She shrugged off his arm and stood up. “Well there’s not much I can do to change anything now,” she said. “And my dad felt bad so he said I could have our beach house for the weekend. You wanna throw a party?”

If her friends hadn’t known her so well they might have been shocked at this sudden change of mood. But her friends all knew that when Octavia was upset or angry, she rarely let herself show any emotion for more than a few minutes; it was how she processed grief. When her previous boyfriend, Atom, had died in a mugging gone wrong, she had cried for an hour before going to play paintball with her friends, they had all sprouted bruises all over their bodies afterwards. Octavia had learned that anger and violence worked the best to make her feel better. It wasn’t entirely great for the people around her but they loved her so they put up with it.

“You know I’m always up for a party,” answered Jasper. “I’m in. I can get Maya and the rest of the cheerleaders to spread the word.” Octavia grinned. This was going to be epic.

* * *

 

“Look, Abby, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that footage existed,” apologized Marcus again. “It was never my intention for Octavia to-”

“I don’t care what your intention was, Octavia was hurt. Do you know that Lincoln had to call me to say that he found Octavia in tears after the story leaked?” yelled Abby.

“Lincoln?” asked Marcus.

If it were possible for someone to telepathically roll their eyes while simultaneously be glaring, that would perfectly encapsulate Abby’s facial expression right now. Even over the phone, Marcus knew that that was what she was doing. Abby sighed. “Her boyfriend?” 

“Octavia has a boyfriend?” This was the first time Marcus had heard anything about this.

“She lives with you, how could you not know?” Abby’s voice was judgmental, superior in that she was proud and happy Octavia had chosen her over Marcus for something. Especially considering that Octavia had always been closer to Marcus. 

“I don’t really talk about that stuff with Octavia,” said Marcus. “Clarke’s the only one of our kids who will talk to me about relationships.”

“That’s funny, she’s the only one who won’t talk to me.” The domesticity of the moment briefly made them forget the reason for the call. “Anyways, back to Octavia.”

“She seemed fine when I was talking to her earlier,” said Marcus. “She asked if she could have the beach house for the weekend and seemed happy as could be.”

“Marcus, you know that’s how Octavia processes grief. She punches stuff and then goes and gets really drunk. Remember Atom?”

“What else am I supposed to do to help her? She never talks to me about this stuff.”

“Then drop out of the race. It’s your fault that she’s in this situation to begin with,” snapped Abby. 

“You’re only saying that because you know I’m the only one you could lose to,” said Marcus with a smirk. 

“Forget your damn ego for a second, Marcus Kane. It’s your-”

“Why don’t you forget yours?” yelled Marcus, cutting her off. “Do you honestly think you haven’t done anything that could hurt our kids if the media found out?” 

“Every time I try to have a civilized conversation with you…” 

“We’re done here,” spits Marcus. “You can call me back if you have something to say to me that isn’t your usual self-righteous crap.”

Marcus hung up the phone but not before hearing a small sniffle on the other end.  _ Was she crying?  _ He felt bad for a moment but it was fleeting, who was she to barge in and tell him that he was the one who needed to give up his dreams to make her life easier? Yes, he felt bad for Octavia, of course he did, but the damage had already been done and dropping out now would only make him -and Octavia by association-b look guiltier in the public eye.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, as Marcus and Abby fought and Octavia shut out her friends and brother, the final Kane had had a much more pleasurable Friday night. “Lexa,” whined Clarke. “I can’t stay in bed all day today.”

Lexa pouted in response. “Sure you can’t.”  The Trikru girl placed her arm across Clarke’s naked torso, preventing the other girl from leaving the hotel bed where the couple had slept the previous night. Well, they’d had a little bit of sleep, the rest of the night had been filled with  _ other  _ activities. Clarke knew she would regret that she had only gotten two hours of sleep later in the day when she was scheduled to do an interview later that day but at the moment, Clarke couldn’t bring herself to care less. 

She hadn’t seen Lexa for a few months and she missed her even with the daily phone calls. Clarke had felt as if the two of them were drifting apart because although they loved each other a ridiculous amount, every aspect of making their relationship work was challenging. 

For starters, Lexa lived in a different country and while the relations between Trikru and the States had definitely improved, relationships between people in the two countries with one another tended to be frowned upon and crossing the border was a hassle no one really wanted to go through very often. 

Secondly, as  _ both  _ of Clarke’s parents were running for president, the press was watching her like a hawk. It made her daily life extraordinarily inconvenient; she couldn’t even go to a party without the media painting her as some wild party girl with no cares in life, a statement that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Lexa had her fair share of press attention as well. The twenty-two year-old had inherited her mother’s company when Alexandra Woods had died from a heart attack. In the two years she had been running the company, sales had skyrocketed and people were fawning over the gorgeous young CEO who had recently expressed her desires to go into the political field one day. 

Lexa was openly lesbian; had been since eighth grade. Which meant her controversy had already happened. Clarke only the other hand, had only come out as bisexual to a select few people: Lexa, obviously, Bellamy, her ex-girlfriend Niylah, and weirdly enough, Lincoln, who you could always rely on for solid advice. Clarke had wanted to come out to her parents before the election but now everything was excessively complicated and she didn’t feel comfortable with everything going on. 

“You still with me, Clarke?” asked Lexa. “Or have you zoned out again?” 

“Hmm,” replied Clarke. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked if you had a reason you absolutely had to leave,” said Lexa, a tone of playful exasperation in her voice. 

“I’m sorry, Lex. Trust me, there’s nothing more I would like to do than lie around in bed all day with my super hot girlfriend,” Lexa smiled at that. “but I have an interview I need to do this afternoon.”

“That’s a shame,” said Lexa. “I could think of so many better ways you could spend your time.”

Lexa began kissing Clarke’s collarbone and Clarke groaned in frustration. “You’re making it extremely hard to leave.”

“Maybe that was my goal,” said Lexa mischievously. 

“You’re incorrigible,” sighed Clarke. 

“But you love it.”

“That I do.” Lexa resumes her kisses on Clarke’s neck. 

“You know what?” decided Clarke. “I think I can spare another hour or so.”

Clarke rolled Lexa on her back and clambered on top of her. Lexa smiled. “That’s the spirit.”


	3. The First Interview

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been so long since I’ve updated this and I’m really sorry. I don’t really know where I’m planning to take this story and while I do want to finish it, it might take quite some time. Anyways, I’ve had most of this chapter in my google drive for 6 months and I thought I’d finally post it. It’s a little short but I figured it was better than nothing.

“Hey, Lincoln! Quit moping at the TV and get out here!” yelled Octavia. She was standing on the back deck of the Kane’s beach house in California. It had an excellent view of the ocean and more importantly, it was far away from anyone they knew so the teens could always party without getting caught. 

Octavia opened the screen door and walked into the room. “Hurry up, Lincoln.” She went over to the couch, swaying a little from the alcohol and plopped herself directly on Lincoln’s lap. 

“You know that your mother and sister are on tv, right?” asked Lincoln. 

“What? Why?”

“They’re doing an interview on Fox,” answered Lincoln. “Care to watch with me?” 

“Why the hell not? Hey guys,” yelled Octavia, addressing her friends outside. “My mom and sister are on TV.”

Jasper, Maya, Monty, Harper, Emori (Murphy’s on/off girlfriend), Raven and Raven’s new boyfriend, Miles, who everyone called Zeke,  all came running into the room. The all cram themselves into the leather couch and sure enough, the interview with Clarke and her mother was starting. 

“Abby I expect this sort of thing from,” remarked Monty. “Clarke, not so much.”

“Shhhh,” said Jasper, “it’s starting.”

“Hello and welcome back to Fox News!” said Carl Emerson, the news anchor. “Today I’m joined by presidential candidate and New York Senator, Abigail Kane, and her daughter Clarke.”

“It’s a pleasure to be here.” Octavia could tell that the smile on her mother’s face was about as real as the tooth fairy. 

“Now, Senator Kane, your ex-husband and former Secretary of State, Marcus Kane, has recently announced his intent to run for President.”

Emerson seemed to want Abby to say something here and so she said, “Yes, that is correct.”

“Has that disrupted your life, as you are almost guaranteed the democratic nomination?”

“It would have and will continue to impact my life regardless of whether I get the nomination or not,” replied Abby. 

Jasper took this time to helpfully  point out that, “of course it’s going to disrupt her life, Emerson, you idiot!”

“And has it impacted yours?” asked Emerson, addressing Clarke. 

“Of course it has,” replied the woman in question. “I don’t know how having both your parents run for president at the same time  _ wouldn’t  _ cause some changes to your life.”

“And your siblings, how have they been affected?”

“Well I think you know how Octavia has been affected,” said Clarke and Octavia saw that Abby tried to hide a grimace. She clearly did not approve of Clarke bringing that up and Octavia couldn’t have agreed more. “And Bellamy is doing fine, I guess, we don’t talk all that often.”

“But Bellamy isn’t really your son, is he?” Emerson turned to Abby once again.

“Of course he is!” answered Abby, offended. “Why wouldn’t he be?”

“Wasn’t he adopt-”

“Yes, we adopted him when he was five, that doesn’t mean he’s not my son,” snapped Abby viciously. 

Emerson quickly tried to move on by shooting a question at Clarke. “And your father,” he prompted. 

“Is currently running for president,” she answered. “But if you’re talking about my biological father, Jake Griffin, which for some reason I get the feeling that you are, he was killed in the war before I was born. Now, are you going to ask my mother any questions about her politics and ideas instead of about her family and ex-husband?”

Octavia switched off the tv with a click to the remote. “I can’t take anymore of this idiot,” she explained at her friends’ confused looks.

* * *

 

“Dad, did you see Fox News? If you haven’t, you need to look,” informed Bellamy as he walked down the streets near his apartment. 

“Why?” replied Marcus. 

“Clarke and mom did an interview, you’ll want to see it, it was pretty bad.”

“What has Abby done now?” asked Marcus, irritated.

“Oh it’s not them,” explained Bellamy. “ I’m fact, they did as well as was to be expected. It’s the guy interviewing them, Emerson I think his name is, he’s uhh, you just need to watch it. Call me back when you’ve seen it.” 

Bellamy heard his dad yelling for someone in the office to find him the interview before he hung up.

Bellamy arrived at his building, went inside and took the elevator seven floors up. He saw a shadow quickly disappear around a corner when he arrived at his floor. He fiddled with his keys and put them in the lock. He heard a noise behind him and turned to see what it was but when he looked to where the noise came from he saw nothing. Deciding that he must have been hearing things because of the stressful day, Bellamy shrugged and went into his apartment. 

He’d barely had times to take off his jacket before his dad called him. “Hey,” he said. “I guess you’ve seen it.”

“Yeah,” replied Marcus. “And I currently feel like murdering Emerson. Have you tried talking to Clarke about it?”

“It went to voicemail,” explained Bellamy. He sighed. “This is going to be an incredibly frustrating campaign.”

“No kidding,” said Marcus. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments/kudos would be much appreciated.


End file.
